Ray Charles Davenport sings along during hymns at the start of a church service in the Memphis Central Train Station Sunday morning. Having outgrown it's previous location, Downtown Presbyterian Church has moved into the historic train station temporarily as it looks for a new home. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

Downtown Church Pastor Richard Rieves preaches in the Memphis Central Train Station Sunday morning. Having outgrown it's previous location, Downtown Presbyterian Church has moved into the historic train station temporarily as it looks for a new home. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

More than 280 people sat shoulder-to-shoulder to sing, pray and worship together during Downtown Church's first Sunday service in the congregation's new home in Central Station.

With Rev. Richard Rieves as lead pastor, the Presbyterian church has accomplished something rare in Memphis: a multi-ethnic, multi-class congregation.

"We took an extreme amount of time really building a core group and a staff that reflected that vision," Rieves said. "It's hard to change the look of the church once you start."

Their message is finding a faithful audience. Chris Davis, the teaching pastor, has been with Downtown Church for three years and has seen the congregation double in size in the last nine months.

He believes that Memphis needs a church like theirs because it brings people together for positive change, and Rick Trotter, the in-arena voice for the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team, agrees.

Trotter became Downtown Church's worship leader two years ago because he believes that the church sets an example for others in Memphis.

"It's not without its problems," Trotter said. "We do have conflicts here and there, but we just trust God to help us work through those."

Mia Peete, who lives in the Douglass neighborhood, joined Downtown Church last Easter Sunday because the diversity of the congregation attracted her.

"My thing about Downtown Church is that you're guaranteed to fit in," Peete said.

Downtown Presbyterian Church launched about three years ago as a church plant of Second Presbyterian Church.

Since its inception, the church's congregation has swelled from 30 people to more than 300 of different ethnicities and classes.

"We really see a movement, especially among the millennial generation, of seeking something different, seeking the racial diversity and the class diversity... with people unlike themselves," Rieves said. "I would say we're growing across the diverse lines that we started with. "

So it was out of need, not want, that the church left its original space, a storefront property on Tennessee Street. For the past three months, church leaders have been working with Memphis Area Transit Authority, which owns the space, to work out the logistics of having a church in Hudson Hall. MATA's trolley line and Amtrak's City of New Orleans train still use portions of the historic train station.

"We were definitely cramped," Rieves said. "They (MATA) have been so gracious to us. They really embraced the idea of a church in Central Station."

Although the congregation has overcome racial and economic barriers, Davis hopes more "gray hairs" will find their way to the church's door.

"We need people who have more life experience to pour into people who don't, to encourage them, to pray for them and to challenge them to grow," Davis said.

For now, though, Rieves and Davis are hopeful that the new location will afford them not only more space but also more visibility and opportunities for outreach.

"Especially in a place like Memphis, we can easily divide ourselves based on how much money we make or the color of our skin," Davis said. "But what we continue to see is that no matter who you are, what side of the tracks you come from, we need each other."